So as you can tell from my featured image I am not indulging in the Irish spirits this holiday. As I have not done so in the past 26 Saint Patrick’s Day celebrations being I am a recovering alcoholic. This works out well, because if I would’ve been drinking I wouldn’t remember a damn thing and would have nothing to write about. So let’s get on with it then…
Every year, for as long as I can remember, my big sis Kelly made corned beef, cabbage, carrots, potatoes and my favorite, Irish soda bread from scratch.
This year was no different. Although she wasn’t exactly jazzed about how the corned beef and cabbage turned out, I still enjoyed it immensely.
There just is something about food and traditions. How the smell and taste can bring back a flurry of memories and bring you back in time. To a time when loved ones that have since past were still with you and you shared that food. Created that memory.
Cherish each day for you never know when it might be your last. Tell the ones you hold dear that you love them. Tell them today, don’t wait until tomorrow to say it.
While here on the Island of course I needed to sample some comfort foods from my previous home. I ate Chinese food from Long River in West Islip on Saturday and a bacon, egg & cheese with salt, pepper, ketchup on a roll from Summerwind Gourmet Deli on Sunday. Today we went back to Summerwind and got sandwiches.
Mom and Donna placing our order.
Mom and Donna got chicken salad on a hard roll with chips but I went all in and got “The Moose Sandwhich” with coleslaw. What’s “The Moose” you ask, well I’ll tell you. Roast beef, gravy, melted mozzarella, crispy bacon on a toasted garlic hero.
The Moose
I could’ve shared this with Donna being it was so big but I was feeling selfish so I ate it ALL myself, in one sitting to boot! I am paying the price now being I feel like a stuffed pig. Of course we had to get a cup of coffee and a newspaper for mom and I wanted a sweet treat too.
Our local newspaper on Long Island.Yum!!!
There is nothing like a deli on Long Island or NYC. If you’ve never eaten the food from one you just don’t know. You were right Liz, I don’t know how I forgot.
Endless choices of salads and sides in the case.Boars Head cold cuts ready to be sliced fresh.
I set my alarm last night for 8:00 a.m. so I could get in an early run/workout prior to our food crawl extravaganza down at Soda City today. I was surprised that I actually woke up prior to the alarm being that I was up until 1:00 a.m. binge watching “The Killing” on Netflix. If you’ve never seen it I recommend you do.
I got in my 3 miles, pumped some iron, relaxed in the massage chair for 10 minutes (one of the perks of being a Black Card Member at Planet Fitness) and then headed home to wait for Kelly to pick me up so we could head downtown.
The view as I walked home from the gym.
Now, I’ve been to Soda City many times but I’ve never eaten my way through it like today. Some of you are probably thinking “What is Soda City?” It is an open air market in downtown Columbia on Saturday’s that stretches about 4 blocks down main street. There are a ton of food vendors as well as artisans selling their wares. It is a must if you are in the downtown area on a Saturday between 9 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.. And if you are a dog owner feel free to bring them along. There were 1/2 as many dogs as there were people.
As you can see, Soda City is the place to be!
Of course being a Kirby, the first priority was to find coffee! I went with the tried and true, one of my favorites, a cup from Curiosity Coffee Bar.
Their brick & mortar shop is located at 2327 Main Street, Columbia
Now being Kelly wanted coffee with a flavor profile we walked over to Drip on Main. She was kinda disappointed being the coffee was lukewarm before she even added any cream to it. I was suprised being I have had their coffee before and it was very good. Their baked goods, even though we didn’t eat any this time are delicious, especially the scones.
This joint is jumpin’!
With coffee in hand we began to crawl but before any food caught my eye a jewelry vendor called The Indigo Bee Co. did. I have been looking for a bracelet for a while now but nothing has excited me. I really like to support local artisans whenever I can, especially because my Donna is a local artist herself. Be sure to check out her page on instagram, it’s listed under her business name Evergreen Mosaic. Plug…plug… 😉 Back to the bracelet. I tried it on but it was a little too big, so the artist, Emily Brereton, told me if I’d be around for a bit she could make me another one a little smaller. Talk about good customer service! She sized my wrist and I told her I’d be back. 3 food trucks and 2 coffee shops later we returned. The new bracelet fit perfect and at only $15 it was at great buy!
Now for the food! Soda City is like a mecca for food trucks. A one stop shop if you will. From Tex-Mex to Venezuelan, there is a food truck for you.
Now we didn’t actually eat here but I wanted to shout it out due to it being just so damn cool. The Grand just opened December of last year and I can’t wait to eat & play there. The reason why I say play is because they have a 7 lane bowling alley, lounge area for playing board games, indoor shuffleboard as well as an outdoor space with a bocce court. Is is referred to as a “boutique” bowling alley, bar and restaurant. We’d like to bring Yuri being she loves to bowl.
Yes, that’s a bowling alley.Outdoor dining and bocceThe restaurant seating has a 1960’s “rat pack” era feel to it.
The first stop on our crawl was The Belgian Waffle Truck.
Kelly got a sweet waffle with a strawberry compote and whip cream. Unfortunately, the whip cream tasted like it came from a can. The compote was good though.
Take note of the manicure…compliments of Blush Nails & Spa in LexingtonGet it girl!
I went with the breakfast sandwich, which is an egg, sausage patty, and gravy on waffles. The sausage tasted like it was a store bought frozen patty but the gravy was quite good. Overall it was tasty sandwich.
Breakfast sandwich on steroids!Now that’s how you eat a sandwich.Does anyone have a napkin?
Next stop The Wurst Wagon. Now Donna would have appreciated this food cart. If you closed your eyes and inhaled, you would swear you were in NY standing in front of a Sabrett dirty water dog stand. We actually closed them down being we took their last 2 sausages. There was a snap when you bit through the sausage casing, so we knew they were home made. It came with a side of potato salad and sauerkraut. We loved the potato salad! It was vinegar based and had dill in it, which Kelly was particularly impressed with. It kind of reminded me of a german potato salad. The sauerkraut was delish too. We both gave The Wurst Wagon 2 big thumbs up!
I vote to have one of these on every corner!Good bang for your buck for only $7.00.
Now for something sweet. What to pick, so many choices. You can never go wrong with donuts right? Next stop, The Donut Guy”. Kelly picked the maple bacon mini donuts and got herself an iced coffee. The donuts were light and airy, kind of reminded me of a zeppoli but I just wish the bacon was more incorporated into the donut instead of just being sprinkled on the top. Being the glaze was very thin the bacon couldn’t really adhere to the Donut and just collected at the bottom of the tray. All in all it was good but I felt the flavors didn’t really explode in my mouth when I took a bite.
A generous portion but I wish the bacon stuck to the donuts better.My sis is a good sport being I made her pose for a bazillion pics today 🙂
Even though our dad wasn’t with us today Kelly made sure he could reap the rewards of our crawl. Being our dad is a good ole’ southern boy we got him some yellow stone ground grits compliments of The Congaree Milling Co. Kelly said dad likes yellow grits better than white so yellow it was.
Now dad has a huge sweet tooth so we knew we had to get him a dessert too. Dad’s rule of thumb is if it’s heavy (weighs alot) the dessert is good. Kelly picked out a blackberry pie compliments of Divine Pies Bakery. I picked it up first to make sure it lived up to dad’s standards, it did, so we got it. I will have to get back to you on the taste because I didn’t try it but it sure did look divine!
Are those not the most beautiful pies you have ever seen…
One last thing that was a must to add to the list bring home to dad were boiled peanuts. I happen to like them and Donna can’t seem to understand why. She’ll say to me “Do you really like those or are you just trying to impress your dad?” Yes Donna, I really like those, along with collards, pork rinds and hash.
Last stop on the crawl.
This has been the most interesting crawl so far being we got to sample food from several different vendors. Beautiful weather, day off from work, yummy foods and spending the morning with my big sis….life is good my friends 🙂
On our way back to the car. Last picture Kelly, I promise.
As luck would have it, I was gifted with getting to work a 1/2 day today! So of course I called my sis to see if she wanted to check out someplace new for lunch. She suggested that we go get a pedicure first. My second gift today was my big sis picking up the tab for making my toes pretty. How lucky am I!
While relaxing in a massage chair, having someone rub our legs and feet with a sea salt scrub we thought about where we should go to eat. Being we were in Lexington we decided upon The Root Cellar. Kelly had heard good things about this restaurant so we decided to give it a try.
I liked the place from the moment we walked in. We were greeted and seated by our server Janice. She was friendly, funny and quick on the water refills (which is such a pet peeve of mine). The menu had a wide variety of choices which made it hard to pick but we managed to narrow it down.
We began our meal with the Southern Egg Roll as an appetizer. This was house made pimento cheese & pulled pork rolled in a spring roll & lightly fried. It was served with a side of Root Cellar BBQ sauce. A little on the greasy side but nontheless very tasty.
Each of the dishes we selected came with a salad. I picked a balsamic dressing which also tasted house made as well as delicious.
We picked 2 different dishes so we could share. My pick was the Grilled Chicken, Swiss & Avacado Sandwich served on a brioche bun with lettuce, tomato, red onion & pesto ranch sauce. We decided on the sautéed Brussel sprouts as the side for this. That was one of the best chicken sandwiches I have ever had! The brioche bun was extremely fresh, like it was made in house. You could decipher all the different flavors that built this sandwich. So very, very good.
Kelly’s pick was the Shrimp and Grits. Talk about depth of flavor. The Tasso cream sauce was rich and smooth, the jumbo shrimp were firm and crisp to the bite and the consistency of the grits were spot on.
To complete our meal we ordered the special of the day…The Canegie Deli Cheesecake. As a former New Yorker I’d put that up against any NY cheesecake.
From the hospitality of the staff, cleanliness of the restaurant and the delicious food, we definitely give The Root Cellar 2 thumbs up!
I don’t do buffets much since I’ve lost weight but I am so glad I went to this one.
What a pleasant suprise to find out that my family was taking me to Jackson’s Southern Kitchen for dinner! I have never been there but every time I pass it there are always people waiting outside to get in.
The first impression after we got inside and stepped up to the hostess station was not too good. Kelly walked up and said hi but didn’t receive a hello back. Then after we told the hostess how many we were she didn’t tell us how long the wait would be and walked away. While we were waiting, the hostess began arguing with a potential patron who had not been seated yet. After those folks got seated the hostess, along with another waitress, rehashed the argument again and again, loud enough for all of us waiting to hear. If I wasn’t with all of my family I would’ve left but we stayed and waited. I am glad we did…
The food was absolutely delicious! I consider myself an amateur fried chicken connoisseur. My favorite by far is the fried chicken at Doc’s BBQ but this was a close second. The skin was crispy but light, and the chicken itself was extremely moist. There were 3 different buffet tables with endless choices. Every single item I ate was fresh, hot and delicious. In entirety I had ribs, pulled pork, mac ‘n cheese, fried okra, collard greens, rice and hash, hush puppies, hoe cakes and sweet potatoes. For dessert I sampled red velvet cake, banana pudding, peach cobbler (I didn’t particularly care for the cobbler) and strawberry cake. Oh brother, I feel sick all over again just writing this because I ate soooo much. That’s what happens when the food is that good, you just keep eating because you want to try EVERYTHING!
I highly recommend Jackson’s Southern Kitchen but they might want to rethink who they have representing the front of the house.
Today is my sister’s birthday and my gift to her was taking her out to lunch. We went to Private Property in Lexington on Main Street. At first sight you wouldn’t recognize it as a restaurant being it’s in an old house and the side is facing Main Street. The only way I could tell it was a business was the neon “open” sign in the front window. Kelly found out it was a restaurant from a friend. The architecture is absolutely charming. From the original hardwood floors, thick mouldings and brick fireplaces throughout, the atmosphere is wonderful.
That’s all well and good you’re probably saying but what about the food!
One of the reasons why I wanted to go there were the “swamp tacos”. What are swamp tacos you ask? They are tacos made with alligator, smoked sausage, grilled shrimp and cajun coleslaw. Yes, I said alligator. We decided to expand our palettes to a experience a new ingredient so we ordered them as an appetizer.
We also ordered the She-Crab soup, which had a great depth of flavor and packed quite a punch as far as heat goes. The waitress informed us that most of the dishes served at Private Property were spicy, this is why we know we need to bring Yuri back with us next time.
Now for the main dishes. Kelly picked the Big Easy Burger, which is topped with creamy Havarti cheese smothered with caramelized onions served with house made fries.
I went for the Palmetto Po’ Boy which is made with fried shrimp, homemade pimento cheese and crispy, peppered bacon served with a house salad. I must say that I was very impressed with the salad. The lettuce was crisp and the tomatoes burst with flavor in my mouth when I bit into them. I sure do love me a good salad!
I highly recommend Private Property. The service was good, the staff friendly and the food was delicious but diner beware, it is spicy.
All in all I think it’s safe to say Kelly enjoyed her birthday lunch. Let the 2018 Crawl begin!!!
I have had an on again off again relationship with fitness and healthy food over the past couple of years. Well we are going steady once again. One of my coworkers had ordered me a running calender, which allows me to record daily how much I run/walk. The calender was provided by the site ilovetorun.org and it is a great motivator for me.
I have it right on the closet door in my bedroom. It is the first thing I see when I get up and the last thing I see before I go to sleep so it reminds me to stay fit daily. I get so excited to fill it out, attempting to outdo the prior day’s total miles.
So the challenge I signed up for is this… run/walk/crawl 1000 miles in 365 days for 2018. It sounds like a lot and kind of overwhelmed me at first but a saying I heard just recently helped me get beyond that feeling. “How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time”. So I am eating this 1000 mile elephant of mine biting off one mile at a time.
I joined Planet Fitness this year which has been an immense help in keeping me on point with my daily regimen of running. First I run on the treadmill, then I workout with weights and then I sit back and enjoy a 10 minute massage in one of the massage chairs. Planet Fitness is within walking distance from my home so I get in some extra miles walking to and from the gym. On occasion Donna will join me (with my Black Card membership I can bring a guest and get unlimited massage too!) and she’ll get on the recumbent bike and I’ll do weights.
I already can feel an difference. Notice that I said FEEL a difference. I am not obsessing about what the scale says but focusing on how my clothes fit and the increase in my energy level. If I should miss a day, which I try not to, but if I do I don’t beat myself up. The next day I’ll just push to run a little bit more than I normally would. Why would I beat myself up being I am doing this because I love myself. Makes sense, right?
Love yourself enough to be willing to make a change for the better in your life, whatever that change might be…
Today while I was out for a walk, I happened upon an unexpected suprise. Every Sunday from 10:00 – 2:00 at the West Columbia Riverwalk entrance, Latham’s Farm and Curiosity Coffee Bar are featuring their products. Being I knew Donna would love this, I decided to swing back home and get her.
Me and my girl…
When we returned, we decided to sample the coffee first. I opted for a regular cup of coffee but Donna was tickled that Curiosity Coffee Bar was offering chai tea, so she got a Chai Hot Toddy (mocktail). As for snacks, we sampled alfajores, compliments of K & K Gourmet Sweets and a date & almond scone.
Alfajores by K & K Gourmet SweetsSconesWhile we ate and drank Donna chatted up the baristas about her mosaics.
Donna’s company is called Evergreen Mosaic and you can see all of her amazing pieces on instagram. And if you’re lucky enough, maybe you too could own an Evergreen Mosaic original!
Mosaic by Evergreen Mosaic. This work of art was creating using beads as the medium.
Then we walked over to the tent manned by Latham’s Farm. They had a wonderful selection of fresh fruits and vegetables and you couldn’t beat the price of $13 for as much as you can stuff in a basket!
I would have fit more into this basket but it was already very heavy and I had to carry it home!
So what did I do with that basket o’ veggies you ask??? I cooked them of course! For dinner tonight I made chicken cutlets with roasted eggplant, squash, zucchini, carrots and white corn on the cob. With the mild weather and our meal tonight, it is starting to feel like spring time in the south.
The trick for not letting your veggies dry out in the oven is cutting them into at least 1/2″ cubes.
They tasted twice as good as they look.No guilt in eating this meal 🙂
Nobody in my immediate circle likes calamari. I love it but it has to be cooked just right, if not it is too chewy. I had to drive over 800 miles from my home in Cayce, S.C. but I found the ultimate calamari at Gregorio’s in Massapequa, N.Y.. Gregorio’s is owned by Greg Cellucci. Gregoriospizzeria.com If I still lived on Long Island I’d be eating at his restaurant at least twice a week. Donna’s step sister Donna and her husband Ritchie (Greg’s father) treated us to the most delicious lunch at Gregorio’s on Wednesday.
We were started out with a basket of fresh bread on the table which consisted of garlic knots and sesame rolls. The sesame rolls were crusty on the outside and soft on the inside, served hot so the butter melted as soon as it hit the bread.
For appetizers we chose baked clams and of course, calamari. The baked clams were served whole in their shell with minimal breading so you could really experience the flavor of the clam. Drizzled over the baked clam was what tasted like a garlic and white wine reduction. A squeeze of fresh lemon was the final touch prior to devouring these clams. My mouth is watering while writing this because they were really JUST THAT GOOD!
I was so tickled that Donna, Ritchie and even mom shared an order or calamari with me. The batter used was not a heavy breading it was light, almost reminiscent of a tempura consistency. The marinara sauce served with the calamari was the perfect accompaniment. It wasn’t too heavy and didn’t mask the flavor of the calamari.
For the main dish I asked Greg’s recommendation, in which he suggested the Fusilli Florentina and so that is what I ordered. I am so glad I did. The Fusilli Florentina consisted of corkscrew pasta with chicken, baby spinach in a pink cream sauce topped w/ fresh mozzarella. Yes, fresh mozzarella! It is made fresh on the premises and boy does it make a difference in every dish served at Gregorio’s.
Mom chose the chicken francese off the menu. There was no need for a knife to be part of the place setting being the chicken was so tender she cut through it with her fork. The wine and lemon sauce was fragrant, smooth and unforgettable.
Donna’s all time favorite pasta dish is linguini with clam sauce. White clam sauce that is. As soon as I saw that on the menu I knew that’s what she’d pick. She absolutely loved it!
I have yet to find an restaurant in South Carolina that serves italian food like this. Actually, not many in N.Y. have lived up to Gregorio’s food. I highly recommend you going if you haven’t already been.
I work at The Home Depot as an Appliance Specialist and I love it (at least most of the time I do). One of the things I really love about my job, specifically about my Home Depot store #1112, is the fact they are always trying to feed you. From management bringing in food on holidays to employee appreciate days where you can find donuts and fruit in the break room. But on select Fridays there are food sales where the employee committee raises money for our holiday party and other fun events by selling food that is made by the employees. Sometimes it is a bake sale with deserts and other days they are selling hot dogs, tacos, mexican food, etc. Employees volunteer to cook for the lunch/dinner sales. One of my favorite Depot chef’s is Alex.
Alex working that skillet like she’s a master chef at Benihana!
On this particular Friday it was Philly Cheesesteak day. Now, before everybody gets all crazy about the dynamics of what a Philly Cheesesteak is and is not, remember one thing… we are in a Home Depot break room working with what we have, that’s all. This is OUR interpretation of a Philly Cheesesteak. Now that I have gotten that disclaimer out-of-the-way, back to the food.
I don’t care what’s in it, that looks good!
When you think of Philly Cheesesteak I know Steak-umms don’t come to mind but don’t knock it til you try it. Try and have an open mind. Alex cooked that meat, if you can call it that, until it was slightly charred and then added a pepper & onion mix to it until the flavors were thoroughly combined . Then topped it off with a slice of provolone and melted it until perfection. Oh yeah, she whipped up some fries too! I forgot how much they were charging but it was every last penny! Hats off to you Alex. Whenever I see you manning the grill I will be the first to step up with money in hand to buy what your cooking ma’am.
Kirby's Culinary Crawl 